Rene Coty

Rene Coty (20 March 1882-22 November 1962) was President of France from 16 January 1954 to 8 January 1959, succeeding Vincent Auriol and preceding Charles de Gaulle. He was a member of the CNIP party.

Biography
Rene Coty was born in Le Havre, France on 20 March 1882, and he graduated from the University of Caen in 1902 before becoming a lawyer. He served in the French Army during World War I, and he was a member of the Radical Party of France from 1908 to 1923, the Democratic Republican Alliance from 1923 to 1940, and a member of the National Center of Independents and Peasants from 1949 to 1962. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1923 until he became a Senator in 1935. He was a deputy from 1945 to 1948, and, despite his earlier support of Philippe Petain, he served as Minister of Reconstruction from 1947 to 1948. Although he held strong anti-communist and colonialist views, during his period of office as President, French Indochina gained independence. In response to the Algerian War, he facilitated a return to poower of Charles de Gaulle as leader in his stead. He died in 1962.